Kitman Labs Provides 'Invaluable Tool' For IRFU

Kitman Labs, whose new contract with the IRFU was announced today, provides sports science software to the Ireland squad's coaching and medical staff to help reduce injuries and improve athlete performance.

Kitman Labs has worked closely with the IRFU since last November's GUINNESS Series, supplying their Profiler system to the Ireland camp to help highlight performance decrements and risk of injury.

Dave Clark, the IRFU's head of fitness, commented: "The profile generated by Kitman Labs allows us (the IRFU) to manage data collected for national squad players from a number of discipline areas - sports medicine, physiotherapy, strength and conditioning and rugby.

"Furthermore, it facilitates the collection and communication of this data between the provinces and national team management, which means that the data will inform planning and acute programme modifications.

"Given the environment and the quantity of data generated, this is an invaluable tool."

Commenting on securing the deal with the IRFU, Iarfhlaith Kelly, CEO of Kitman Labs, said: "I'm thrilled to make this announcement today. We've quietly worked in the background with the IRFU for the last six months, so it's great to get recognition for the work we've done.

"We're an internationally focused business, but we're also very proud of our Irish roots, and working with the Irish national rugby team, especially during their successful campaign in the Six Nations, is something we're very proud of.

"Ireland got through the Championship with far fewer injuries than last year. There are many factors that contributed to this, including the outstanding work of the medical and coaching staff, but I'd like to think that our Profiler system, designed to highlight injury risk and enable timely interventions with the athletes, contributed to that reduction."

Kitman Labs was founded in November 2012 by Iarfhlaith Kelly, Stephen Smith and Jason Cowman. Jason has been the Irish squad's strength and conditioning coach for almost two years. The below Irish Rugby TV video shows him illustrating just how effective the Profiler system can be in a professional environment:

Kitman Labs is a sports science company, supported by Enterprise Ireland, which is based in the Media Cube on the IADT campus in Dun Laoghaire.

Both Stephen and Jason have extensive experience in the area of sports science and injury rehabilitation, having both worked at the highest levels of professional rugby.

Combined with Iarfhlaith's background in software development and through collaboration with the School of Statistics at Trinity College Dublin, the Kitman Labs team have the expertise needed to provide sports science software to professional sports clubs and teams.